WHILE things might be going from bad to worse for Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel, Max Chilton and the Marussia team enjoyed a more positive conclusion to pre-season testing.
Vettel has been having a plethora of problems with his Red Bull, failing to even complete a lap on Friday in Bahrain, but despite a few hitches, Marussia were pleased to see Chilton end the final day of running in seventh position.
This was despite Chilton losing a substantial amount of track time to an electrical problem, but the Reigate-based F1 driver finished with a best time of 1:36.835 after his 61 laps.
And Chilton was pleased to end pre-season testing on a positive note before the start of the season in two weeks.
"Given that we've had a few little issues, I'm quite encouraged by the 61 laps that we did achieve and the positive note on which we've ended the day," Chilton commented.
"It's a nice way to finish our pre-season testing. The way our day panned out meant that we had a lot to do to play catch-up and maximise the track time that we had left, but the items we have ticked off will be crucial in forming an overall picture for Melbourne.
"Generally, I think we can be pretty positive for the first race of the season. The new regulations have been a challenge up and down the pit lane and although we have also experienced a few issues along the way, we've also made a lot of progress.
"I don't want to make any predictions because we won't really know where we stand until qualifying and the race, but I'm feeling very optimistic as I think we'll be in a good position to make the most of our opportunities. My thanks to the Team trackside and back at base. We've come a long way since that first day of running in Jerez."
Sunday's running brings the Marussia F1 team's pre-season account from the three tests in Jerez and Bahrain up to 1777.54 kms and 334 laps. The next stop is Melbourne for the 2014 season curtain-raiser, the Australian Grand Prix, on 16 March.
